


Short of Breath

by Flammenkobold



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Almost Drowning, Fluff, Kissing, Other, Underwater, Underwater Breathing, Vignette, the actual kind and then the one in brackets kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23636818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flammenkobold/pseuds/Flammenkobold
Summary: Things Zolf is bloody tired of: the bloody end of the world in general, bloody Shoin specifically, bloody Shoin’s traps definitely, and rooms full of water.Oh yeah, right, and bloody broken bottles of underwater breathing.Or: Cel has some air to spare and then things escalate a tiny bit.
Relationships: Celiquillithon "Cel" Sidebottom/Zolf Smith
Comments: 12
Kudos: 62





	Short of Breath

Things Zolf is bloody tired of: the bloody end of the world in general, bloody Shoin specifically, bloody Shoin’s traps definitely, and rooms full of water.

Oh yeah, right, and bloody _broken bottles of underwater breathing_.

Which would be handy about right now.

As it stands he’s maybe a minute away from drowning, if he’s lucky. If he still can hold his breath like he could years ago as a sailor. Thing is, he doesn’t think they’ll be out in a minute.

A hand urgently taps against his arm and breaks him out of making lists of things he hates. When he looks over Cel waves their other hand in front of his face and then points down to the floor and the broken bottle faintly illuminated by the green safety lights this room at least has.

He thinks they might be asking if he has more bottles of it. He shakes his head and watches a frown appear on their face.

Cel gestures wildly to the other blocked door, that doesn’t seem to have any visible opening mechanisms to it. Zolf would like to tell them that he knows, but that would be even more of a waste of air. He sees the gills at the side of their neck flare up, letting out a frustrated sigh. 

Then they’re darting off towards Hamid, battering at the door with magic, and Azu, holding Hamid in place. Zolf had already tried but the door hadn’t budged at all and eventually he had to step back, both to preserve his breath and not get accidentally caught in Hamid burning his spells.

Dark spots start to dance in front of his eyes. He feels Cel’s hand on his arm again just seconds later, and when he manages to focus on their face they still look worried. So no luck with Hamid and Azu having any potion left either.

Involuntarily he feels his mouth open to gasp for air before he can clamp it shut again, releasing some of the precious air he has left to begin with.

The look in Cel’s eyes switches from frantic to having an idea to determination in an impressive short time. Then they lean forward and he can feel their lips on his. The intent is clear and Zolf opens his mouth to let in the air Cel is willing to share with him.

Whatever potion they chugged before keeps on working very well, filtering out oxygen from the water and leaving more than enough to pass to Zolf. They hang there in the water for several seconds, just quietly breathing. 

Then Cel shifts a bit, their hands coming up to grasp at his arms to not float away, and then it is still underwater breathing, except maybe also something else. And then he shifts a bit, tests out the waters so to speak and it definitely isn’t just underwater breathing any more. Not with how their tongue slides over his, or with how he answers it.

He is so distracted by it that he doesn’t notice the water lowering at first, only when his metal legs hit the floor and the crown of his head wasn’t submerged anymore. Cel must’ve noticed before him, being far taller and when he blinks the water out of his eyes and gently extracts himself, he notices that they’re kneeling on the floor.

“I, err-”

They smile at him brightly. “That was fun. Not the drowning bit, the drowning bit definitely wasn’t fun; interesting maybe, fascinating really, but not exactly fun fun,” Cel rambles on and behind their shoulder he can see Azu and Hamid staring at them.

“Look, can we just- just let’s move on- we can-”

“Talk later?” Azu suggests.

“Well yes-” he turns away to walk through the now open door and doesn’t wait for them to follow or to say more. Cel however never seems short of anything to say.

“Or kiss later?” they ask with far too much glee. 

Zolf groans. Gods, Wilde was going to have a field day with this if he ever found out.

**Author's Note:**

> yeets this out before the new episode josses it

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Short of Breath [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25431292) by [KD reads (KDHeart)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KDHeart/pseuds/KD%20reads)




End file.
